Great work, Dan. The lengths you went on this article really make it stand out. I've seen many posts on message boards with the same topic in mind, but this takes the cake in terms of being comprehensive and factual still all the while keeping the sequence of events in order.

"Dammit you piss me off. I f#ckin hate you and I hope you f#cking get killed by a rabid polar bear you douche bag."

Frankly, I had no freaking idea what I was getting into here. I've had people from Alabama emailing to send me additional information...and one north Alabama sports talk station emailed today to set up an interview with me on Wednesday. That is now set for 1:15 p.m. Wednesday. They tell me you can listen live at 939thescore.com

I spoke with a guy this morning on the phone who was personally acquainted with a longtime Alabama State Senator, who wanted to give some insights into Alabama politics, and just how Lowder was able to keep the state from replacing him on the Auburn BoT. All this means that there will have to be a follow up article, natch.

Searching Twitter on the keyword "Lowder" is enough to give you an idea of how the thing is spreading, especially in SEC country. It's posted at several SEC message boards and my emailing it to several national sportswriters couldn't have hurt either.

But it's amazing what has happened with it.

"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken

Dan, really is a fantastic article. Been telling my friends down here about it.

Being in the middle of things, Auburn fans just don't care. Bama fans are pissed, and Mississippi State fans are as well (as they'd be there if Cam had come to Starkville). Great to see you're getting props for it.

LSU site that I visit daily, tigerdroppings.com, has a ton of traffic and a great SEC Rant board. They have a 120+ page thread going on about this very topic, and Dan's article off the main page is linked on page 119. Tons of traffic on that site, great for Dan.

Bayou Tribe wrote:LSU site that I visit daily, tigerdroppings.com, has a ton of traffic and a great SEC Rant board. They have a 120+ page thread going on about this very topic, and Dan's article off the main page is linked on page 119. Tons of traffic on that site, great for Dan.

As a former newspaperman, I gotta tell you that this is one of the most comprehensive, well-researched sports articles I've ever seen on an independent Website -- certainly worthy of SI.

I can also tell you that it takes tremendous balls to write something like this about a well-known figure for public consumption. Before doing so, you've got to cover all the bases, and it appears that Dan has.

Dan has been on fire all season. My two favorite Wiz joints of the year were the Minnesota piece and this one. Two very different types of articles. It ain't all that easy to do one style well. Versatility is strength ILO.

JCoz wrote:Are you legally able to do a montage of the most ridiculous Auburn fan emails?

The Bammers and Tiger fans are probably sending in some funny stuff as well...

Not sure how many emails Swerb is just looking at and declining to send my way, but I assume he is sending me most of what he's getting, and I have responded politely to almost every one, in some cases leading to a back and forth dialogue. Almost all of it has been very civil and constructive.

Frankly I'm a little surprised at the relative lack of nastiness in them, especially from the Auburn people. But then again, I express some sympathy with the Auburn fans...and even the ones that disagree with some of my suppositions have begun with some variation of "We all hate Bobby Lowder and what he's done to Auburn, but...."

Some want to write off the whole exercise to my being a bitter OSU/Big Ten fan laying the groundwork for another loss to an SEC school...blah, blah.

Or "why don't you write an article about Maurice Clarett...blah, blah"..., since I openly self-identify as a Buckeye fan. (I remind these people that Maurice Clarett's college career was terminated after one season because of the shit he did...and that OSU suffered some sanctions for it all)

As far as the interview Wednesday on Alabama radio (939thescore.com) it's set to go at 1:15 pm, but as far as I know the "Listen Live" button on the station's website isn't working. I tried it yesterday and it downdloads a .m3u file, but can't connect to a live host. I notified the station that the web listening function isn't working, but a day later, it still isn't.

I have the ability to record the call myself, so I may do that.

"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken

Are there any suspicious looking vans parked across the street and a few houses down?

The WSJ writer I talked to is Allen Barra.

Great guy, and we had a nice conversation. He has a piece appearing in Wednesday's paper (website?) and I think that some or all of this quote from my article is what he intends to use:

The presumption of innocence is one thing, but the suspension of disbelief is something else entirely. Cam Newton surely is entitled to the former. But given Auburn's sleazy history, plus what we now know about the elder Newton, to believe in his innocence is to make an irrational leap of faith. It is borderline delusional.

Barra is from Alabama, and said he will try to get the article some more exposure down there by possibly hooking me up with some newspapers in the area.

Barra is also appearing on the nationally syndicated Paul Finebaum sports talk show...also tomorrow afternoon, and he says he is going to plug the article and TCF.

No unmarked vans on the street...yet.

"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken

As far as the interview Wednesday on Alabama radio (939thescore.com) it's set to go at 1:15 pm, but as far as I know the "Listen Live" button on the station's website isn't working. I tried it yesterday and it downdloads a .m3u file, but can't connect to a live host. I notified the station that the web listening function isn't working, but a day later, it still isn't.

Windows Media Player started playing the feed, then blew up. I tried VLC and it looks like their server is dead or getting too much traffic. They need a real host

Just to clarify. I'm not going to be on the syndicated Finebaum show (though Allen Barra is...talking about generally the same topic) I am on a local show on one of the many stations that also carries the syndicated Finebaum show...from 6-10 pm. Harold Bugg and Brett Baeird (sp?) are the hosts.

"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken

swerb wrote:Wall Street Journal emailed me to get Dan's contact info ... Dan spoke with the reporter for 20 min and is going to be quoted in a Wednesday piece in the Journal.

Dan gets to speak to the WSJ?

he's gotta be in heaven.

Only thing better is when he gets on Hannity. ;-)

WTG Danny!

90,685 fucking hits on that article.

That is unGodly, unbelievable and just slightly impressive.

All y'all better start cranking out SEC pieces. And make sure they're that well written and researched.

Christ, if I can get 1,000 people to click the Wrap I feel like a burglar and like Faulkner.

Up til now TCF 'viral' has been an Amico column during the playoffs that knocked down 10,000 reads. The bar is now a bit higher.

I told Dan in private emails and in here that he makes me proud to be associated with him in however small a manner I am. Technically he's tremendous, his effort and passion is off the charts and his work product speaks for itself.

He deserves every effing click he gets and I hope something goofy comes from the whole thing.

A lot of us fancy ourselves as wasted on our real jobs and psuedo Updikes and Lardners. I'll say it aloud: Dan is a professional and he's excellent at what he does.

I'm happy for the man. Sincerely ecstatic for someone who puts so much into everything he does.